Acceso usuarios
Xabier Sebastià
The Aragonese Statute of Autonomy does not recognize multilingualism. In 1996 an amendment introduced an imprecise form of protection for Catalan and Aragonese, but did not mention official status. This situation changed radically in 1997 with the Report by the Special Commission on Language Policy. This document laid the foundations for the draft bill on the languages of Aragon, on which a consensus wasreached in 1998 and which declares Catalan and Aragonese to be official languages. However, subsequent alterations by the Aragonese Minister of Culture have signified a clear step backwards (the final text of the draft bill is reproduced at the end of the article).
The reasons given for the possible unconstitutional nature of coofficial status for these languages rest on the lack of a legal framework, as the Statute does not consider them to be official, yet the Spanish Constitution regards the autochthonous languages of the autonomous communities as official. The draft bill encompasses the principle of municipal voluntarism: each town council decides which language should be coofficial and what name it should be given. This may hinder the introduction of education in Catalan. There are also plans to set up a Higher Council for Languages of Aragon, although in the case of Catalan it would be preferable to recognize the Institute of Catalan Studies as the highest authority.
The draft bill provides a list of municipalities in which Catalan and Aragonese are subject to protection, without taking into consideration either transitional zones or population movement to other areas where the rights of Catalan and Aragonese speakers should also be safeguarded. The possibility of referendums on linguistic ascription and situations of trilingualism should not be discarded. Moreover, the perception of Catalan and Aragonese as part of the cultural and historical heritage of Aragon should be encouraged in all situations.
